Seven Fundamental Lessons I Learned From Cristiano Ronaldo
What one of the biggest players of all time can teach you about living a successful life.
Whether you are a football lover or not, you have heard about Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is one of the most brilliant football players that this sport has ever seen. A mix of talent, consistency, strength, and tenacity.
That allowed him to be a mediatic monster out of the field as well. According to Forbes, Ronaldo is the athlete that produces the highest interactions numbers on Instagram. Moreover, the stats show that CR7 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Jersey number 7 — is the most followed account next to Instagram profile itself with nearly 240M followers.
The huge fame he has increasingly gained made him also one of the most hated figures, inside and outside the football sphere.
I’ll be honest with you: I used to hate Cristiano.
I queued the crowd. I thought he was too selfish, arrogant, and overrated.
But then I realized that most of the time criticism arises from lack of knowledge.
I became more and more interested in his growth and career. Now I consider him an essential guide for my life.
Here are 7 meaningful life lessons we all can learn from the most iconic number 7 in football history.
You can go as far as you want with hard work and determination
We look at him and we spot glory, influence, and wealth. None of this was part of his past.
Cristiano‘s roots were humble. He was born in Funchal (Portugal) as a fourth child. The walls were made of blocks and the roof of zinc. He had not a vast variety of toys to play with, besides a ball that soon became his best friend.
Ronaldo has not only faced a difficult economic situation. He had to face bullies.
They made fun of him because of his thick Madeiran accent. Although, the main aspect that set off pain and frustration was the mockery about his body.
The 11 years-old Cristiano was a skinny boy. Everyone was making jokes about his shape and even coaches affirmed that “he has talent, but it’s a shame he’s so small”.
He felt grim. This is when he decided that his life must shift.
“And it’s true, I was skinny. I had no muscle. So I made a decision at 11 years old. I knew I had a lot of talent, but I decided that I was going to work harder than everybody. I was going to stop playing like a kid. I was going to stop acting like a kid. I was going to train like I could be the best in the world”.
He started to train every day and do a lot of extra work. Then he became CR7.
Cristiano Ronaldo demonstrated to the world how far sacrifice, focus, and endurance pay off in the long-term.
“Dreams come true if we can pursue them by overcoming the fear of failure.”
(Debasish Mridha)
Obstacles exist to be overcome, boundaries to be broken and goals to be achieved.
Let no one and nothing stop you.
If you fall down, rise up stronger
Have a look at this image for one second.
On 22 May 2016, the Catalonian newspaper Sport published the daily edition with this cover.
“The end”
The end of the Cristiano Ronaldo era.
He was not having a good time and failed a decisive penalty. Everyone thought he was finished.
Since then CR7 has won:
- 1 Euro
- 3 Champions League
- 1 Spanish championship
- 2 Supercups
- 1 Supercopa
- 2 Club World Cup
- 2 Fifa best player
- 2 Euro best player
- 2 Ballon d’Or
Every human being may deal with though times. Only a few get out stronger than before.
“Failure is not the end of life. It is the beginning of a greater success, if thy will persist.”
(Lailah Gifty Akita)
The big you get, the more people will look at you and rejoice if you fail.
Show always who you really are. Hardships and people’s judgments are normal.
They do not define you.
Fight for what you believe
At the age of 12, Cristiano packed his bags, greeted the family, and left for Lisbon.
The Portuguese capital was the launching pad for his football carrier.
First times, though, were anything but easy.
Integration was not pleasant and homesickness struck hard.
“I cried almost every day. I was still in Portugal, but it was like moving to another country. The accent made it like a completely different language. The culture was different. I didn’t know anybody, and it was extremely lonely. My family could only afford to come visit me every four months or so. I was missing them so much that every day was painful”.
Yet he resisted, improved, and achieved whatever he wanted.
“When I was 15, I turned to some of my team-mates during training. I remember it so clearly. I said to them, ‘I’ll be the best in the world one day’. They were kind of laughing about it. I wasn’t even on Sporting’s first team yet, but I had that belief. I really meant it.”
If you think you are doing the right thing, be bold and go forward this path
Don’t fear to challenge the unknown. Take a leap of faith.
Be confident about your strengths.
People say Ronaldo is arrogant and cocky because of his interviews.
Here a glimpse:
“I’ve never seen anyone better than me. I have always thought that. No footballer can do the things I can. No one has won as many individual trophies as me. And I’m not speaking just of the Ballon d’Or. That says something, doesn’t it?”
This is one of the reasons why I hated Ronaldo along with everyone else.
Although after going deeper into his personality, I started to see things in a different light.
Where once I found vanity now I perceive motivation and self-esteem.
Having the “number-one” mindset helps you thinking like you are the best.
This is how brilliant people become even greater.
“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.”
(Ayn Rand)
It is not about ego. It is about confidence.
Don’t get you down. Always acknowledge your strengths.
Don’t set limits.
I will not write down the whole Cristiano’s Palmares, you can easily search for it yourself.
But I can assure you one thing: it is impressively huge.
He never stopped to be hungry, though.
Every teammate he has played with talks about this attitude that never let him slowing down.
Here is Patrice Evra, former Manchester United player:
“I remember when where talking with Cristiano when he won the first Ballon d’Or, he told me that he wanted at least five of them”.
Never getting satisfied is what led him to the next level.
Cristiano does not want a peak in his career. He will top it.
“I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve. It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.”
Delete the word “enough” from your dictionary when you are talking about achieving something remarkable.
“Always be content, but rarely satisfied.”
(Bobby Darnell)
Find always new goals, new targets, new success.
The pressure is your friend
I have never seen Cristiano Ronaldo scared. Just everyone scared of him.
The more important get the competition, the better he will play.
This is unique.
Stress does not mean to be necessarily bad. If handled, it helps you to stay mentally focused and awake.
Being one of the greatest players brings definitely a lot of pressure. Although he has always found in it the right motivation to unleash the full potential and rule the game.
“Pressure makes diamonds”
(George S. Patton Jr.)
Pressure includes criticism and haters as well.
Cristiano has been one of the most hated players in football history.
But here is a crucial point: you need to learn to distinguish who wants you to improve and who simply hates you.
“Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable.”
There is no reason for giving slack to haters. They do not want you to get better and be successful.
So here three essential intakes:
- Embrace pressure and give out your best
- Listen to people you can learn from
- Don’t mind who attack or criticize you just for putting you down: prove they are wrong.
Stay humble
Success has not made Ronaldo snooty.
His humble origins are still present in his personality somehow.
This is the Juventus-star and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon talking about his experience with Cristiano since he moved to Juventus:
“When I met Cristiano in Turin for training, I discovered a very humble guy. I like his attitude and his relationship with our team-mates a lot. Very often, after training, we spend a couple of minutes talking in deep about some aspects of the game. I discovered a very nice person besides the footballer.”
Becoming wealthy and influential does not make you consequently privileged in human relationships.
Don’t let success flatter yourself and ruin your personality
You can be more powerful within society, because of your money and your relevance, but your rapport with people would be hurt.
Try always to pursue success, but don’t forget to spread kindness and love.
There are still values that are more important than bucks and influence.
In the end, Cristiano is not as bad as they describe, right?
You can follow football or not.
You can love him or hate him.
But no one can deny that CR7 is an astonishing inspiring personality and his life could be a steady benchmark for each of us.
